Not made in Dagenham: a Cortina in the spotlight

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Martin Gurdon meets the stars of West End musical 'Made in Dagenham' - Gemma Arterton and a Ford Cortina to which there's more than meets the eye

Actress Jemma Arterton has worked with talents ranging from Daniel Craig to Vanessa Redgrave. But as the lead in the West End musicalMade in Dagenham, she’s currently co-starring with a Ford Cortina. So, does she think cars should be placed alongside animals and children on the list of things actors should avoid working with?

“Yes,” says Arterton, without hesitation. “They can be a bit unpredictable.”

Strictly speaking the one she’s performing with at London’s Adelphi Theatre is acting too, because under bodywork that resembles a 1960s Mk2 Crayford Cortina convertible is something that started life as an electric golf buggy. That it’s so convincing is down to Simon Kenny, whose South London-based Souvenir Studios builds sets and props, including Made in Dagenham’s fake Ford.

Driving a real Cortina on to the Adelphi Theatre’s 1930s-built stage wasn’t an option. The car would probably go through the floor, and anyway, sharing it with an A-list actress and near thirty-strong cast meant the car had to turn on its own axis. To achieve this, Kenny gave the faux Cortina a hydraulic foot with a turntable, which can be lowered to allow the car to pirouette prettily during a big production song and dance number about launching the Cortina 1600 E.

“To be fair, I think its only broken down twice,” says Arterton. “There’s a motor that makes it spin, and when that’s got stuck we’ve had to stop the show.”

A real Cortina would have been too heavy for the Adelphi Theatre’s stageCredit:
Martin Gurdon

Anyone who has seen Made in Dagenham will know that it’s choreographed with military precision, and the Cortina has a starring role, but in a complex, fast-moving production, things do very occasionally go awry.

“We also have a Jeep on stage sometimes,” says Arterton. “It has crashed into the set, which looks quite funny – although not for the person driving it obviously!”

To create his pretend Ford, Simon Kenny bought a real one for £5,500, a process that involved looking at old Cortinas in locations ranging from Scotland to Sussex, and eventually finding the car he wanted in scenic Kettering. “The vendor parted company with the car with a tear in his eye, and said ‘Look after her,’” according to Kenny.

“She” came with a real shed load of bits, cleared to make way for the ex-Cortina owner’s dog, and these were later augmented with other period parts tracked down on eBay.

The Cortina was dismantled and moulds taken of everything from body panels to seats and axles. These were used to make the stage car’s lighter, glass-fibre panels, and the sets themselves. Looking like Airfix kits, they were the brainchild of set designer Bunny Christie.

The Made in Dagenham set resembles an Airfix model kitCredit:
Martin Gurdon

“The Airfix thing is obviously fun, and all boys of a certain age know about it,” says Christie. These huge, steel-framed structures run on tracks.

“It’s like a very intricate machine,” says Arterton. “For everything that happens there are ten people making sure nothing goes wrong.”

The actress talks about singing and dancing with props including bumper cars suspended over her head and having to be very careful about not vanishing down stage trap doors. “It can be quite scary, but it’s always like that in theatre. You have to get your bearings. That’s why we have long technical rehearsals to get used to all that.”

The end result is neither a searing social critique nor high art, but it’s great fun, the cast look like they’re thoroughly enjoying it and the show wears its professional slickness lightly.

As for the dismembered Cortina, a medium-sized van load of its mortal remains has been bought by a Ford fan in Yorkshire, where apparently the car will be rebuilt.

Arterton pauses when asked what she drives in real life. “It’s an Audi." she says. "An S5? I’m changing it for a bigger one. A Q5, I think. You can tell I’m not very interested. Shall we just say I drive a car?’’

Made in Dagenham runs until April 11

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